


A cold, beautiful truth

by FlatlandDan



Category: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Genre: Christmas, Gen, M/M, Mission Fic, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 15:44:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlatlandDan/pseuds/FlatlandDan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Christmas Eve in Dubrovnik and things aren't going according to plan.  No one is surprised.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A cold, beautiful truth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pyroblaze18 (kultiras)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kultiras/gifts).



> Just a little something for you, for this festive season. I hope you have a magical Yuletide and a wonderful new year.

There was a cold, beautiful truth to be found in the snow.  Ethan Hunt had realised this years ago, running through the streets of Berlin chasing a stolen packet of secrets and nightmares.  Or was he holding the packet?  Missions blur together for him now, a muddled history that winds its way through sharp moments of clarity.  It might not even have been Berlin.

He’s thinking about this now because they, his newest collection of misfits and himself, are in Dubrovnik and snow is falling.  Will and Jane could easily have been mistaken for tourists looking out and marveling at their luck: Snow in Dubrovnik on Christmas Eve! They turn around, frowns on their faces, and Ethan is drawn out of the snowy past.

“We’re screwed,” Will says, a grim certainty in his voice.  “The snow is going to give away our escape path.”

“Is it going to pick up?” Ethan doesn’t even have to specify that he’s directing the question at Benji, just wait while quick fingers draw out the information they need direct from satellites.  

“No. Same or tapering.” Will’s frown deepens and Ethan wants to tell him that if he goes out into the cold his face will stay that way, but he’s not sure Will’s blood pressure can take the joke.  So he smiles and tries to put something resembling reassurances into it.

“Then we just have to change the plan.” From somewhere behind him, Benji lets out a long suffering sigh. As his mind kicks into overdrive, Ethan can’t help but let his smile widen.

\- - -

Really, it’s only a minor variation.  One so small that Ethan doesn’t even feel the need to inform HQ. He’s only changing how they leave Fuego, the night club hired by the target for his Christmas eve alcohol fueled revelry.

“This isn’t minor,” Will says as he puts the neoprene suit on under his dress shirt.  “A minor change is us leaving through the front door instead of the back.  A minor change is putting a new face mask on-”

“Which I could still provide to save everyone the threat of hypothermia, I might add,” Benji interjected.  Will looked hopefully at Ethan for a minute before rolling his eyes.

“I’m just saying, jumping into the bay from the city wall isn’t a minor change from my point of view. That’s all.”

“The other option was the sewers,” Ethan tells him as he does up his tie.  Jane smoothes it out of reflex, her eyes flickering down to make sure he has the right cufflinks before coming up to rest on his face.  He can see the reflection of Benji doing the same to Will, the tried and true buddy system of fieldwork once again paying off as Benji moves Will’s watch to the other wrist.

“You’ll want that hand free, in the inevitable case of needing to shoot things,” Benji says cheerfully.

“The bay or the sewers?” Will asks.  Ethan nods and, after a second, Will nods as well.  “At least this way I won’t stink for the whole trip back.”

\- - -

When he was little, Ethan had always thought that Christmas was about family, gifts and Santa (in various orders of priority).  After a few years of working for IMF, Christmas had become about Julia, finding a way to get out of the office, out of the field, out of anything to spend the day  with her.  Now Christmas was a day where everyone else was inside and they had less of a chance of being seen.  And Christmas Eve was a chance to get in and out of a party, placing bugs on all the major players of this cartel.  

“But it’s against fire regulations!” Benji exclaimed over the headset.  Ethan wasn’t there but he knew that, in their little rented apartment, something had been thrown across the room.  He heard Will snort and shushed him by reflex.

“Little kids are going to think we’re Santa,” Will had told him with a sad smile as Ethan had laid out the new, even more improved, plan.  They were in the vents, peering down at the club layout and one unexpectedly blocked emergency exit. The improved plan that involved Will becoming the target, hurtling himself across roof tops and into the ocean, letting the salt water wash away any footprints that might appear on the rocks he would haul himself out on.  The improved plan that carried a bit too much risk for everyone’s taste and made Ethan think about how he wanted to keep his little, damaged, family safe but couldn’t.

“Just don’t drop any presents where they can see them,” Ethan had replied.  He wished he could have brought Jane instead, left Will to man the high speed pick up boat.  Seduction was the easiest way to plant bugs, but at an all male party setting Jane on them was impossible.  Benji had suggested they put her in a mask, a suggestion which had been followed by a long silence before Jane had reminded him that he had really missed the point.

The plan was working, but at a slower rate than Ethan would have hoped.  Twelve out of sixteen bugs planted and Will was still in the room but it was nearing the end of the party.  They had expected him to be discovered by the tenth bug, leaving Ethan to pick up the stragglers in the confusion of his escape with his far more established cover granting him protection.  He watched Will make an attempt and hesitate.

“We’re running out of time.  Don’t think about avoiding the jump. Make the tags.” Ethan hated himself for saying it, hated himself for having to make the mission the priority.  Will’s face betrayed nothing and he made the tag.  He made the next tag as well.

Ethan heard the commotion before he knew that Tag 14 was even happening.  He forced himself to look surprised, concerned for his well being and of those around him, even as he watched Will run through the kitchen doors.  He made his way to the eye of the storm.

“Antun, are you alright?” A concerned hand on the the target’s shoulder and Tag 14 was in place.  The man looked confused, but nodded as he gulped down the rest of his port. 

“Santa is on the roof.  Four tails. One dispatched.” Benji would keep describing what was happening outside until Will made the jump.  Ethan laid eyes on his next target.  “Santa has made the wall.  Three tails. Rudolph stand by.”

Tag 15, made while the man told his friends that if he had been closer he would have split Will’s head open.  If you had tried, I would have killed you, Ethan thought to himself as he moved on to the final target.  Will had left the easiest for last, tagging the main targets far earlier in the game.  

“Two tails. Contact with Santa.  We have gunfire.” Ethan could hear the faint crack of a glock, the _ratatatat_ of an Uzi replying.  He offered the final target a drink and commentary on the events.  He’s pretty sure he would offer him anything just to let him tap the inside of his wrist so he could be on city walls faster.  “Rudolf, he’s over and has taken one of them with him.  I’ve lost video.”

Ethan makes the tag and quietly slips out.   He follows the trail they agreed on  from the ground, moving bodies that had been dropped into hidden recesses, under garbage and rubble.  He’s moving the fourth before Jane’s voice comes through his earphone.

“Santa is in the sleigh.  We’re heading back to the North Pole.”  Ethan feels his breathing normalize and tells himself it’s just because the adrenaline is wearing off.  He walks slowly back to the safe house,  taking a meandering route, his earpiece quiet now that the mission is reaching an end.  He won’t feel safe until they are on a plane tomorrow, today he realises as he looks at his watch, but the silence means that all is going to plan.  There is a bakery still open, indulging families wanting the freshest bread for the morning.  He buys four pear and almond tarts and finally heads back.

Will is in one of the beds, every blanket in the room wrapped around him and an ice pack on the side of his head.  Bloody tissues are sticking out of nose and a butterfly bandage is holding his lip together.  Jane is sat on the bed next to him, keeping the ice pack in place, and Benji is packing everything up.  He fixes Ethan with a glare as he walks in, holding up his package of tarts.

“I cand fuckin shoe,” Will tells him and Ethan knows he’s ok.

“For the plane,” Ethan says as he pats his hand and gives in a squeeze.  “For a job well done.”  Will huffs in reply and closes his eyes, painkillers kicking in.  Ethan settles into the chair, lets Benji flow around him using up his nervous energy, lets Jane provide the physical contact he’s not willing to give, and watches the snow fall.  If it keeps up, it will soon cover the bodies and buy them a few more hours without suspicion.  There is a cold, beautiful truth to be found in the snow. And tonight, that truth is that his team, his little family, will always find a way to keep the world safe.  No mission is impossible.

  
  



End file.
